New Ulm weekly review., 1887-12-21
Good Hot Weatller K3ea llil1 !

~ = ~ ~ - sE3f
Frederick SschwntEa IN Nv Fork Times
seventJon degrees below zersI
means 100 deg. below freezing point.
It was II the Artic regions, not far
from Backs Great Fish River, when
the author was conducting home
ward sledge journey to Hudson's Bay
in the depth of an Artic winter Nov
ember, December. January, February
nnd March-that he experienced it..
Severe weather that is, intensely cold
had set in just before Christmas, in
1879, the Thermometer sinking down
to 65 deg. and 68 deg. below zero, and
never getting above 60 deg. below, and
Wewere having hard time with our
slelghlng along the river, our camps at
night almost in sight of those we had
left in the morning, so close were they
together and SO slowly did we labor
relying for our daily supply Of food,
were not found near the river, and be-
ing seen some ten or fifteen miles back
from it, determined to leave its bed
and strike straight for home in Hud-
sons Bay.
We had been gone three or four days,
when, as we assembled the higher levels,
the thermometer commenced lowering,
and on the Sd Of January, 1880, at 8
O'Clock in the afternoon, reached II
deg. below zero, the coldest we exper-
fenced on our sledge journey of nearly
a year in length, and the coldest ever,
encountered by white men travelling
out Of doors, for that day we moved
camp some ten or twelve miles to the
south-eastward. The day was not at all
disagreeable, | must say, until along
toward the early night, when slight
zephyr, the nerest kind of motion Of
the wind that would hardly rufHe the
leaves on a tree, or even suffice to cool
the face on a warm day, sprang up,
from the southwark, and, slight and
Insignificant as it was, it cut to the,
bone every part OF the body that was,
exposed, and which, fortunately, was.
only the face from the eyebrows to the.
chin and about half of the cheeks. We.
turned our backs toward it as much
as possible, and especially after wehad
gotten into camp and got to work
building our snow-houses and digging
through the thick ice Of the lake.
for fresh water, and so lazily did our.
BREATH. that CONCEALED into miniature
clouds, float away to the northward,
like the little, light cirrus clouds of a
summer sky, that weknew we'll enough.
how terribly cold it must be without
looking at the thermometer that stood.
IL deg. below zero, Fahrenheit.
1t is not SO much the intensity ofthe
cold, expressed in, degrees on the ther-,
mometer, that determines the disa-
greeableness of Arctic winter weather
as it is the force and relative direction
of the wind. L have found it far
pleasanter with, the thermometer at
SO deg, so deg. or even 20 deg. below
zero, Fahrenheit, with little or nowind
blowing at the time, than to face, a,
rather stiff breeze when the little tell
tale showed 20 deg. warmer tempera-
ture.. Even an Arctic accli1nated white
man facing a good strong wind at 20
deg. or 25, deg. below zero is almost
Sure to- find the wind freeze the nose
and cheeks, and the thermometer does
hot have,to sink over 4 deg. or 5.deg.
to induce the Esquimaux themselves to
keep within their snug snow houses un-,
der the same circumstances, unless
want or famine demands their presence
in the storm. With. plenty in the
llarder for all the mouths, brute and
human, none of them venture out in
such. weather.